Category: News (104)

3 new retailers are to open in Riverside Retail Park following the recent letting of nearly 30,000 sq.ft. at the scheme.

Maplin the electronics retailer, Sporting Pro and Poundstretcher have all committed to open stores at the Park creating over 75 new jobs for the area.

The rapid expansion of Maplins retail network has taken the store total to in excess of 215 stores in the UK and Ireland, and they sell a unique range of electronics products (comprising more than 15,000 lines in total) for enthusiasts. The broad product categories are Sound & Vision, Computer Products and Hobbies & Electronics and they will be an excellent addition to the retail mix on the Park.

Sporting Pro, the new sports fascia owned by value fashion chain Matalan, is opening in Coleraine as part of its first tranche of stores.

The first ten locations it will open in the next two months. Initially, three stores have opened in Walsall, Coleraine and Harlow and another seven stores are set to open across the UK within the next two months. The retailer aims to open 14 stores this autumn, creating 370 jobs.

Head of Sporting Pro and former JJB chief executive Tom Knight said: “Our first stores are near completion and we’re looking forward to seeing the public’s reaction.”

The shops will feature printed flooring resembling sports courts, pitches and running tracks and stores will be split into categories including team sports, outdoor, racket sports, running and junior and have a strong women’s presence with an “extensive range” of footwear, clothing and sports equipment.

Finally Poundstretcher which is one the UK’s leading discount retailers of products for the home is due to open a new store in November. The discounter has a network of more than 400 retail stores across Britain which stock a wide range of great value homewares, including kitchenwares,quilts and pillows, bedding, bathroom products, home decorations, furniture, electric goods, beds, luggage, pet care products, children’s toys and much more.

Commenting on these latest additions Mark Thallon, Retail Partner at the scheme letting agents TDK commented “we are delighted to welcome Maplin, Sporting Pro and Poundstretcher to Riverside Retail Park, Coleraine and we believe these additional retailer will make the Park an even more attractive location for shoppers. We have worked hard over the past 24 months to target retailers for the scheme that we believe compliment the town and provide the offer that our shoppers want. These new names in addition to the openings last year of Frankie & Bennys and Costa Coffee firmly establish Riverside Retail Park as one of the premier retail locations in Northern Ireland.

We are also at an advanced stage of discussions with an occupier for the last remaining unit and hopefully after this concludes we will be able to put up the fully let signs which is not something many schemes can boast in the current climate”

Many might think H&M would be satisfied with its UK and Republic of Ireland footprint of more than 200 stores – but country manager Carlos Duarte has plans for high street domination.

Over the next four months alone, the Swedish fast-fashion giant is plotting an additional 15 stores to add to its portfolio of 230.

“The UK is still a very interesting market for us, so we are looking [at locations] all over the country,” explains Duarte.

“Medium-sized cities are very interesting to us since we are in almost all big cities quite strongly.”

New locations to open this autumn include Bangor in Northern Ireland and Perth in Scotland, along with Salisbury, Norwich, Cheltenham and Hammersmith, London.

Despite the push to open stores, H&M isn’t forgetting about its existing UK portfolio, and in addition to openings has an investment fund dedicated to refurbishments – although it does not disclose how much has been set aside.

Its Oxford Circus flagship in London bears the fruits of this strategy, having been revamped in March. The exterior now boasts large screens to showcase its Paris Show Collection, which hit stores at the beginning of the month.

Inside, the unit is unrecognisable. The once low-ceilinged, claustrophobic shop floor, which was so crammed it was a wonder anyone ever managed to find anything, has been transformed into a sleek and airy space. The store has grown from three to six floors, with ceilings realigned and floor space doubled to 40,365 sq ft. The Oxford Circus shop also hosts H&M’s first shoe lounge in the UK, which Duarte says could be rolled out into further stores. “We are going to do something similar, maybe not exactly the same, because you should surprise the customer constantly,” he explains.

“We constantly look to upgrade our older stores. It’s a logical process for a fast-growing company like H&M. We have a lot of stores with similar interiors [to Oxford Circus], but here are also some special elements that we only used in this store due to the unique size and shape of the building.”

H&M’s UK arm grew pre-tax profits by 13.1% to £17.7m in its last financial year to November 30, 2012, with turnover rising 8.2% to £777.6m. The UK’s gross sales over this period accounted for 7.4% of the group’s global total, up from 7.2% in 2011.

H&M has made robust progress in the UK, fuelled by store openings and its growing variety of product ranges for both menswear and womenswear. In the past five years the retailer has grown its share of the clothing market from 1.6% in 2008 to 2.2% in 2013, according to market research company Verdict Research.

Jessica Fioriti, associate retail analyst for Verdict Research, says: “It just goes to show that even though H&M went through a bad spell due to tough trading conditions and poor weather in the first quarter of 2013, it is still growing as a brand and continuing to entice its loyal customers.”

She adds that H&M’s autumn collection is a good range, with outerwear a particular highlight: “H&M has really strong
winter pieces, which I think compete strongly with Zara and undercuts its prices, so I think it is in a really strong position.”

This autumn will witness yet another of H&M’s highly successful designer collaborations, this time with Isabel Marant.

The mens and women’s collections from the French designer will launch in stores nationwide in November.

Another launch for autumn 13 is the Mauritz Archive collection for men, which takes inspiration from the Stockholm outdoor clothing store H&M founder Erling Persson bought in 1968, the source of the M in H&M.

“We are constantly updating our collections,” says Duarte. “We are looking every season, every day, every hour actually, at how to surprise the customer.”

H&M has also started to implement new categories, with its High Street Kensington and Oxford Street stores boasting dedicated homeware sections, which Duarte says have been “very well received”.

He adds that despite attracting a young, price-driven customer base, the chain has a very loyal following in the UK with customers coming back time and time again. In Sweden, H&M has a loyalty card scheme and Duarte hints it could launch one in the UK. “We don’t have a loyalty card yet in the UK,” he says. “We work with a loyalty card already in our home country so we are looking into how to implement this in other markets.”

Even H&M’s peers are expecting the business to prosper, with a department head at one of H&M’s high street competitors telling Drapers she predicts a bright future for the fashion chain.

“The recession has changed the mindset of the customer forever and the value market will continue to grow, so I can see a future for H&M,” she says. “They’ve dropped the ball design-wise in the past year but with a bit of focus it will recover. From a product perspective it’s the fashion-forward design in good fabrics that usually sets it apart, making it seem better quality than it is.”

And it seems Duarte is also optimistic about the season ahead. When asked how he is feeling about autumn 13, the lights flicker on in the store, signalling its opening. “Perfect timing – the future looks bright,” he exclaims.

“Autumn started four weeks ago after the Sale and the collections have been well received.

So we are looking very much into the future and into the autumn season,” he adds with confidence.

Although he cannot reveal any details of the chain’s Christmas plans or campaign, he says: “Because I know what’s coming up and what we are planning, I’m very much looking forward to it personally, as I’m a Christmas lover.”

Source: Drapers 19th September 2013

British-listed retailer Poundland is planning to open an additional 11 Dealz discount stores in Ireland over the next 15 months.

Chief executive Jim McCarthy said yesterday that this would create 250 to 300 new jobs at the company and involve an investment of about €1.75 million, bringing to 41 the number of Dealz shops the company has opened here since its launch in Blanchardstown and Portlaoise in September 2011.

It employs 750 staff in the Republic and has invested €8.3 million in its store network to date.

Of the new stores, Mr McCarthy said the “majority” would be outside Dublin.

He said the company is generating €50 million in annual revenues and sees continued growth opportunities here for some time to come.

“We think we can do more stores than that and we have a few years of growth left in Ireland,” he said, adding that the company is attracting 250,000 shoppers to its stores here every week.

Dealz opened its 30th shop in Galway Shopping Centre yesterday.

It comprises 9,000 sq ft of retail space and employs 30 staff.

“We had a great reaction in the first few hours of trading there; it was very encouraging,” he said.

Dealz guarantees to sell 97 per cent of its product at €1.49 – Poundland stores in the UK sell at £1 an item. It carries a large range of branded items across 17 different categories and is proving popular with consumers.

Source: Ciaran Hancock of The Irish Times on 27th September 2013

UK Retailer Matalan is launching a sports format, in a bid to tap into the market following the collapse of JJB Sports and have chosen Riverside Retail Park, Coleraine as the location for one their first stores.

The Skelmersdale-based retailer have agreed a tie-up with online brand Intersport, which will feature as part of the branding for the venture.

Mark Thallon Partner at Riverside Retail Parks letting agent TDK said “It’s great to have competition in the sports sector following the collapse of JJB, and we are delighted to welcome the first Sporting Pro in Northern Ireland. The opening of this store will give shoppers even more options and reasons to visit the Park as Matalan bring their expertise in the retail market into the Sports sector.

This letting also complements the recently opened Frankie & Bennys and Costa Coffee outlets with a further UK occupier who is new to Coleraine on the brink of signing up to commit to open in October thereby consolidating Riverside Retail Parks position as one of the provinces leading retail schemes.”

TDK retained retail client Dealz has opened its 27th Irish shop, creating 24 jobs in the north Dublin suburb of Finglas.

Located in the Finglas Village Centre, the shop brings the number of jobs created by the firm in Ireland to more than 630.

Discount retailer Dealz offers a range of top brands and established own-label products, most at a price point of €1.49.

The retailer is a part of Poundland, which has more than 440 stores in the UK. Outlets include Portlaoise, Killarney, Letterkenny, Limerick, Athlone, Cork, Cavan and Monaghan.

TDK’s retail client H&M have commenced shop fit works on two new stores in Ireland which are due to launch in the early Autumn.

New stores will open their doors in Letterkenny Retail Park, Letterkenny and Bloomfield Shopping Centre, Bangor in deals structured by TDKs retail agency team. Letterkenny will be H&M’s 13th store in Ireland and Bangor their 8th in Northern Ireland.

Commenting on these recent acquisitions Mark Thallon Retail Partner at TDK said “We are delighted to assist H&M with their acquisition roll out across Ireland and these stores add to the others we have acquired over the past 2 years in Lisburn, Newry, Londonderry, Kilkenny and Tallaght. H&M continue to open stores at a very steady rate in Ireland at the moment, and have several further exciting projects due to open next year which will complement their current store portfolio.”

Dealz is to open a large new outlet at Abbeycourt in Tralee, Co Kerry.

The company, which is owned by the Poundland, has acquired 650sq m (7,000sq ft) close to Tesco, Pamela Scott, Boots, Jack & Jones and Vera Moda.

Dealz will be creating 30 jobs when it opens its new store in  late August. It already trades out of 27 stores around Ireland all of which have been acquired by TDK following Poundlands entry into the market just under 2 years ago in September 2011.

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TDK participated in the annual BTW Shiells charity tag rugby tournament looking to retain the trophy they won at last years event.

They got off to a great start winning their group with four wins from 4. They were pitted against a strong BTW Commercial team in the semi-finals. After falling behind early on, they started to take a grip of the game and with some excellent scores triumphed to set up a final against a combined Osborne King and Carson McDowell team. With a good crowd gathered and the sun splitting the sky, the match was a tight affair with the opposition only managing to break clear of the TDK defence in the last minute to score what proved to be the winning point. This saw Team TDK finish runners up but a great effort from all involved..

Congratulations to Osborne King/Carson McDowell on their victory and to BTW on running an excellent event. We look forward to returning next year…!

Land Securities have commenced construction at the new Banbridge Retail Park which is to be anchored by a 70,000 sq.ft. Tesco Extra store and will open in Autumn 2014.

TDK have been appointed by Land Securities as joint letting agent for the Retail Park with London based Harvey Spack Field.

Commenting on this instruction Mark Thallon Partner in TDK commented, “Banbridge Retail Park is one of the first commercial retail developments to be constructed in recent times and represents a great vote of confidence in the Northern Ireland retail property market. TDK are delighted to be appointed

Banbridge Retail Park will sit directly opposite The Outlet Centre which comprises 200,000 sq.ft. and tenants include M&S, Next, Gap and Nike.

This leaves Land Sec with the remainder of the site to develop out and initially they are committed under to build the first phase of retail warehousing.

Land Securities is the UK’s largest commercial property company and a member of the FTSE 100. The company owns and manages more than 26 million sq ft of property, from shopping centres to offices, valued in excess of £11.7 billion

A copy of the scheme marketing brochure can be downloaded from the link.

Pets at Home has bought veterinary business Vets4Pets as it aims to extend its vets service to more than 500 in-store and standalone practices.  Pets at Home chief executive Nick Wood said there was “a lot of growth potential” in the small animal veterinary market, which comprises 2,500 practices across the UK.

The acquisition came on the back of Pets’ purchase of equestrian multichannel business Ride-Away in December.

Vets4Pets operates 93 standalone practices and Pets at Home, which acquired the business for between £30m and £50m, plans to increase that number.  The retailer already operates 116 – strong veterinary practice Companion Care – the vast majority of its surgeries are in Pets at Home stores – and Wood said it will work to integrate the two to create a strong player in the market.

For the year to March 31, the businesses had combined sales of £100m, of which Companion Care accounted for about 56%. Wood said: “We think we can grow to more than 500 Pets at Home stores and that there will be more vets than stores.

“Vets4Pets” is complementary to Companion Care and is an excellent strategic fit for Pets at Home. ”Wood said the businesses share the same business model – both operate their practices on a joint venture basis with individual vets.

Source: Retail Week April 12, 2013

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